Healthy hearts in more ways than one

They call it active-aging, low-impact exercising for men and women ages 50 and over. But it’s not just their bodies they’re improving, it’s their minds and spirits as well. And it’s hard to say why so many people come, whether for the physical benefits or for the mental.

Maybe for both, say founders Donna Klassen and Marie League who began the Healthy Hearts exercise group seven years ago.

“It’s a real success story, much more than we dreamed,” Klassen said. “We never had any idea it would grow like it has.”

Klassen and League had been attending a small but crowded exercise group for seniors, and while out walking one sunny spring day in 2003 they decided they could start one of their own. Both women attended the Porterville Church of the Nazarene, and after a brief visit with pastor Mark Pitcher, they made plans to hold a daily class there.

“We started out with 12 people,” League said. They met five days a week for an hour and worked on 10 different exercises in sets of 10 repetitions each.

“And then we began to see that it was going to kill us,” said Klassen, so they cut it back to eight, three days a week.

Today, depending on how many are out traveling or visiting family, there are more than 70 attendees, including “loads of men,” Klassen said. That’s a pay off from making their husbands come in the early days, “because we thought it would be all old ladies” if they didn’t.

The pair called upon the services of the Tulare County Nurses Association for a low-impact exercise program that uses Therabands for strength training. Participants are encouraged to bring hand weights for moderate weight training, and the program includes both chair and standing exercises, balance exercises, and others incorporating the entire body frame from neck to feet.

“Our motto is, if it hurts, don’t do it,” said Klassen. “The older you are the easier you tear.”

As with any endeavor, abilities and opinions vary. One attendee in her 90s easily bends over to touch her toes while League’s husband Bob contends, “I figure if the good Lord had intended for us to touch our toes, he’d have put them on our knees.”

Klassen and League lead the group at first, but have trained others to do the same, and rotating teams of eight take turns leading the exercises.

“It’s not just the exercise,” said League, “it’s the camaraderie and the prayer time. Even the ones that don’t go to church enjoy the prayer time,” during which all who are there stand in a circle, hold hands and pause for a moment of strength as a pastor from the church prays.

“We’ve had women say it’s why they get up in the morning,” Klassen said. “I think we’ve had every kind of surgery you can think of in there. They come, and it helps them get better.”

Klassen herself has twice fought off cancer and says the program helps her in recovery. “The exercise strengthens me. I don’t have any trouble.”

Retired Porterville physician Dr. Marvin Lykins and his wife Fran enjoy the group and have been attending for about five years. Lykins retired in 1991 after 53 years as a general practitioner.

“We don’t belong to the Nazarene church, but we’ve met a whole new bunch of wonderful people through this group,” Lykins said. Fran Lykins said she prefers the group dynamic over a gym and machine atmosphere.

“Doing it with someone else makes it a whole lot easier,” she said. “We’d been walking and felt like we needed more general body exercise.”

Dr. Lykins said he believes the program helps enable people to get up by themselves if they fall rather than lie waiting for help, as is so often the case.

“The exercises we do for arms, shoulders and legs help strengthen you, and help your balance,” he said.

On most days, several participants arrive at the church 30 minutes early to walk the halls or the perimeter of the building. Exercise, laughter, and acceptance motive this group of active agers who don’t mind sharing a hug or two during the morning.

“They almost come in with their arms out for a hug,” Klassen said. “We have fun.”

Healthy Hearts meets every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m. for 45 minutes in the lobby of the Porterville Church of the Nazarene, 2005 W. Olive Ave.